Automatic lath-feeder for paper-carriers



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- I U I. DUNN.

AUTOMATIC LATE FEEDER FOR PAPER CARRIERS.

N0.16,404. Patnted Dec. 3, 1889.

- (N0 Modem 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

I. DUNN.

AUTOMATIC LATH FEEDER FOR. PAPER CARRIERS. No. 416,404. Patented Dec 3, 1889.

' 3 R k g 4 b I I k 4 77 RIVEY (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

I. DUNN. AUTQMATIO LATH FEEDER FOR PAPER CARRIERS. No. 416,404. Patented Dec. 3, 1889.

mmr 11111 U W/T/VESSES:

N4 FETERQ. PMlo-Ulhognplwr, Walhlngton. D4 c p UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC DUNN, OF NE\V BRUNS IVICK, NEW JERSEY. w

AUTOMATIC LATH-FEEDER FOR PAPER-CARRIERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,404, dated December 3, 1889.

Application filed March 19, 1889- Serial No, 303,826. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that .I, IsAAc DUNN, of New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Lath-Feeder for Paper- Carriers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to apparatus for automatically carrying an endless web of paper or other fresh or damp fabric from papermaking or other machines to and through a drier preparatory to packing it for market; and the invention has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, easily-operated, and efficient machine for feeding the laths to the carrier prior to the looping of the paper onto the laths for conveyance to or through a drying-room.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the lath-feeding machine of itself and as combined with the carrier apparatus, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of my improved lath-feeding apparatus and adjacent portions of the paper-carrier, taken on the line to w in Fig. 2, and shows, also, an endless web of paper being fed to and looped onto the carrier apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the feeding apparatus and carrier devices, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 03 a; in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a like View taken on the line y y in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view illustrating the delivery of the laths to the paper-carrier device. Fig. 6 is a detail view showing how the lath -knocker is actuated, and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the lower or discharge end of the lath-platform chute or guide.

Upon any suitably-constructed frame A is supported at the rear end of the lath-feeding machine a hopper B, into which will be thrown promiscuously the laths O, on which the paper or fabric to be looped and dried will be hung. In front of the. hopper are journaled on the frame a lower or bed roller or cylinder D and an upper feed-regulating wheel E, the latter having a series of radial peripheral blades or wipers e, which preferaably extend nearly the whole length of the wheel. The bed-roller and wheel D E are so located that when both are rotated in the same direction (indicated by arrows on them in Fig. 1 of the drawings) the blades or wipers e of the wheel E will pass close enough to the periphery of the bed-roller D to allow but one lath O at a time to pass flatwise between the roller and wheel. This space between the rotating roller and wheel is the throat or outlet of the lath-hopper, the bottom of which at and near the outlet is formed by the bed-roller itself. The feed-regulating wheel E is preferably journaled in boxes which aremade adjustable by screws 6', to regulate to a nicety the width of the throat to accommodate series of laths of diiferent thicknesses or tomake provision for taking up the Wear of the parts.

In front of the roller and wheel D E, and communicating with the space or hopperthroat between them, is provided an inclined or forwardly-sloping lath chute or guide E, which has opposite side parts f f, grooved to receive opposite ends of the laths, and may or may not have a solid floor f between these grooved sides. As the laths pass down the chute in a continuous row, edge to edge, the grooved sides of the chute prevent them piling up on each other, and the lowermost lath is held in the chute by retaining-platesf f which extend across the ends of the grooved sides ff of the chute. Next these plates f f the upper walls of the sides f f are cut away at f f for about the width of one lath, and when the chute is made with a floor f extending to the ends of the side guides f f said floor will be notched or cut away at f f to I allow passage of the fingers or lugs g g of endless carrier-chains G G, which take the laths one at a time from the chute. The chains G G are fitted onto lower sprocket-wheels H H, fast to a shaft I, which is journaled at the front lower part of the frame A, and also onto upper sprocket-wheels J J, which are on shafts K K, journaled in suit-able overhead bearings, which may be on posts L, rising from the fioor, or on hangers fixed to the ceiling. The shaft I is rotated tooperate the carrier-chains G G by means of a belt M, which runs to a pulley 11 on the shaft I from a pulley n on a shaft N, journaled at the rear end of the machine or behind the lath-hopper 1-3. This shaft N also carries a pulley a, from which a belt 0 runs to a pulley 0 on the shaft of the feed-regulating wheel E, and the shaft N also carries a pulley 022, from which a belt P runs to a pulley p on the shaft of the bed-roller D. The bed-roller, the feed-regulating wheel, and the carrier-chains are thus actuated from the one driving-shaft N, which may be driven from a counter-shaft in any approved manner. I am not restricted to locating the shaft N where shown in the drawings, as it may be otherwise arranged to operate the lath-feeder mechanism.

To assure the positive feed of the lath to the carrier-chains G from the chute or guide F, I have provided a lever R, which I call a knocker, and which is fulcrumed at 1' to a suitable lug or standard on the chute-frame and projects at its inner end above one of the lowermost laths in the chute. The outer end of the knocker is heavier than its inner end, which it normally raises, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the knocker then resting on a stop 7', fixed to the lathchute. The knocker is operated by fingers or lugs s on an endless chain S, which is fitted 011 a sprocket-wheel i on the feeder-shaft I, and an upper sprocket-wheel 2f, suitably held to a shaft T, held in overhead bearings which may be on postsU or any other suitable hangers or supports. As each of the chain-lugs s strikes and passes by the knocker it raises its outer end and causes its inner end to strike or knock the laths to assure the positive downward feed of them to the retaining-plates f of the chute F, whence the lowermost lath is carried off by the next pair of lugs or fingers g on the traveling endless carrier-chains G.

The shafts K K, which carry the upper sprocket-wheels J of the chains G, also carry sprocket-wheels V V, on which run endless carrier-chains \V \V, provided with lugs or fingers w 10, which are adapted to take the laths C, on which the paper or other fabricX hangs in loops from the uppermost pair of lugs g of the chains G, and carry the laths and looped paper or fabric forward any required distance through a heated room or chamber for drying the paper or fabric 011 its way to be rolled up or packed suitably for market. The paperX runs forward from the printing or other machine, and then hangs downward from orover a roller Y between the two chains G G, and a little in front of the discharge end of the lathchute.

The continuous operation of the apparatus is as follows: As the bed-roller D and feedregulating wheel E are rotated forward, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and while the endless carrier-chain and belt G M are in operation the laths C will be thrown promiscuously into the hopper B of the lath-feeder, and as the bed-roller D tends to carry or feed the lath forward to and through the chute F the upper bladed wheel E sweeps back all but one lath next the bedroller, thus allowing but one lath at a time to pass over the bed-roller into the chute. As the laths reston the lower retainers f of the chute the pairs of lugs or fingers g g of the endless chains G G will lift one lath at a time through the chute-openings f and carry it upward and rearward, the knocker R in the meantime being operated by the endless chain S, and acting on the laths to positively carry them downward and forward in the chute to the retainers and the carrier-chain lugs. As the continuous web X, of paper, cloth, or other material, falls or passes down over the guide-roller Y in front of the carrier-shaft- I, and between the two carrierchains G G, the laths (J caught up by these chains in turn catch the paper web X and cause it to hang from them in loops of greater or less length accordingly as the carrier-chains move slower or faster; and as the laths one by one reach the upper horizontal carrier-chains W their lugs or fingers w catch the laths and carry them and the fabric X looped on them, off any required distance to and through a heated chamber or room to dry the fabric en route prior to putting it up for sale.

I am not limited to the precise arrangement shown of parts of the lath-feeding machine to which my invention more particularly relates, as I may use cone-pulleys to vary the speed of the lath-carrier chains G G, and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a lath-feeding machine, the combination, with a lath chute or guide, of a hopper opening toward the chute, a bed-roller interposed between. the hopper and chute and forming part of the floor of both of them, and a rotating feed -regulating wheel journaled above the bed-roller and traveling in reverse direction therefrom at the latlrpassage between the rollers, substantially as described, whereby the laths will be fed forward by and from the bed-roller directly onto and along the floor of the chute and all the laths above a single layer thereof will be swept back into the hopper by the feed-regulating wheel, as herein set forth.

2. In a lath-feeding machine, the combination, with an inclined lath-chute F, of an inclined hopper B opening toward the chute, a

bed-roller D between the hopper and chute and forming part of the floor of both of them, and a feed-regulating wheel E, having blades e, and journaled above the bed-roller and traveling in reverse direction therefrom at the lath-passage between the rollers, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

3. In a lath-feeding machine, the combination, with a chute having lath-retainers at its discharge end and provided with lath-exit opening next said retainers, of an endless carrier having fingers which project beneath the outermost lath in the chute to lift the lath through said exit-opening, substantially as herein set forth.

4. In a lath-feeding machine, the combination, with a frame, of a chute having grooved Ways f f, provided With retainers f and cut away at f next said retainers, and endless carrier-chains G G, having lugs g g, taking the laths singly from the chute at the openings f substantially as herein set forth.

5. In a lath-feeding machine, the combination of a hopper for the laths, a chute receiving the laths from the hopper, a roller between the hopper and chute, a feed-regulating Wheel opposing the roller, said chute having lath-retainers at its discharge end and provided with lath-exit opening next said retainers, and an endless carrier having fingers which project beneath the outermost lath in 'the chute. to lift the lath through said exitopening, substantially as herein set forth.

6. In a lath-feeder, the combination, with a lath-chute and an endless carrier taking the laths therefrom, of a knocker urging the lath along the chute to the carrier, substantially as herein set forth.

7. In a lath-feeder, the combination, with an inclined lath-chute and an endless carrier taking the laths therefrom, of a knookerconsisting of a lever B, adapted to strike the laths atthe chute, and an endless chain S, having lugs 8 operating the knoeker to urge the lath forward to the carrier, substantially as herein set forth.

ISAAC DUNN.

\Vitnesses:

WM. H. HELM, THOMAS E. HART. 

